It is known that the performance and lifetime of peristaltic pumps, can be improved by using rollers thereof as the bearing of the drive shaft; to use at least one non-working roller; and to use at least one roller which is elastically deformable.
Peristaltic pumps have the advantage of being capable of being manufactured at low cost since the mechanical system can be made entirely from parts of moulded plastic material. Yet they can operate at very high rotational speeds, making it possible to use small high speed direct current motors e.g. capable of exceeding 20,000 revolutions per minute. Such motors are cheap, making them particularly suitable in windshield and headlight washer pump applications for vehicles. Peristaltic pumps are also used for laboratory and medical applications or for applications in equipment distributing various liquids.
At such high working speeds, the moving parts are heavily stressed. Unavoidable friction leads to undesirable heating or wear; the optimum operation, considering frictional force, rotational speed and pump fluid output pressure is difficult to achieve from a given motor.